Trump: Two Cent Writer, Failed Candidate, But A Carousel Success. Obama’s Still Laughing.

You’ve heard of the expression, “your two cents’ worth”.  Trump will earn rather more than two cents by writing a book for conservative imprint, Regnery Publishing, on restoring American greatness. The gushing press release unsurprisingly made no mention of Trump’s previous foray into political policy books, “The America We Deserve” published in 2000.

In that book, he expounds several ideas belonging more to the leftwing of the Democratic Party than the GOP. For example, he had a plan to impose a one-time 14.25% tax on individuals whose net worth exceeds $10 million. Fun reading for the Tea Party, I'm sure.  

The hypocrite’s book is out of print, but you can buy it on Amazon for two cents. Really, a used copy for two cents plus p&p of course. If you ever were bored enough to want more of Trump’s two cents’ worth, you only have to pay two cents for the privilege.

http://www.amazon.com/America-Deserve-Donald-Trump-Shiflett/dp/1580631312/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

Trump won’t let go. He’ll milk his campaign for his forthcoming book, I mean his fake nomination campaign for all its worth. He told Fox that he might join the race for the Republican nomination if the candidates are too weak.

He said, "Stranger things have happened”.
(Although that could be challenged.)  
"I would not rule it out, no."
Thanks Don.
Please don’t tease the media anymore.

The Donald said that the candidates who have so far announced their intention to win the GOP nomination for presidential candidate would not be able to beat Obama. Trump did think that Huckabee could’ve won, but of course The Mick has quit. Hey, both these guys are cowards. They’ve deprived us of much-needed entertainment. Comedians and late night hosts should be suing Trump for loss of income.

The Trumpeter will be looking after his own income through contracting with New York City to run the Central Park Carousel. Under the ten-year deal, he pays the City of New York Department of Parks and Recreation a total of $2.75 million over the period.

By all accounts, his temporary management of the carousel has been a success. In the Eighties, he did something very similar in rehabilitating Wollman Rink. In the case of the carousel, the previous operator had left it a “filthy, decrepit hovel” according to the New York Daily News.

(Let’s draw a curtain across the details of the hovel conditions, which are far too unsavory for the fine sensibilities of this respectable blog – at least when it comes to people other than Trump. However, no holds barred for any dubious activities by Trump.)

In another bit of irony, the owner of New York One - the previous carousel operator – namely  Thomas Makkos had some years ago jointly with his wife combined two apartments on the 55th floor of the Trump Tower condominiums on Fifth Ave, spending $5 million for the privilege.

Something is going right for Trumpo and it is sweetly ironic that this success is a carousel, after President Barry Obama called him a carnival barker. Say what you like about cautious Barry – that man has superior judgement.

Following his successful turn at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Barry is not keeping the jokes on hold. During the President’s visit to a school in London, someone suggested finding an investor for the winning design project that Barry was examining.  Obama responded, “Donald Trump? I have some connection with him.”

Oh, how we laughed.  Or was Cameron laughing at his favourite Bin Laden joke?

(Namely:

How’s your hiding place?

On a scale of Ann Frank to Osama Bin Laden.)

Donald Trump Quits With Trump Brand Damaged

The Donald has quit. He has announced that he has “decided not to pursue the office of the Presidency”. 

Let’s look at the reasons for this quitting, no the reasons for this cowardice:

The Official Reason

“... business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector.” Bah! BS of a particularly malodorous nature, sir. Next!

Trump supports Democrats More Than Republicans

Trump has in the past contributed more money to Democrats than to Republicans. He has contributed to some of the Republicans’ favourite enemies, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Kerry, Charles B. Rangel and Edward Kennedy. The Donald’s excuse is that he needed to contribute to the Dems for business reasons, as his primary place of business is New York. You may also think that these contributions were some time ago. Nope. He gave $50,000 to Rahm Emanuel for his campaign to become mayor of Chicago.

Trump’s Past Policies Anathema To Republicans

It’s little wonder that Trump did contribute to the Dems. His own position on polices was definitely not Republican. Trump was once a supporter of abortion rights; gay rights; a one-time tax of 14.25 percent on the wealthy; a universal government-paid health care and the bailout of the auto companies. He reversed all these policy positions entirely in his current fake race for the Republican nomination.

Trump’s Missing Worth Certificate

Trump had said that he would release his financials as to his net worth at the time of announcing his bid for the Presidency. Could it be that the real figures were so much lower than his public claims that it would have damaged his brand? And talking of damaging his brand ....

The Polls, The Polls

Bottom line, his poll ratings slumped from 26% to 8%. Trump may be a cartoon, but he’s not a cretin. The abysmal fall in his ratings following Obama’s release of the long-form birth certificate showed him that his race was over.  The Don said that he was "very proud" of himself for forcing Obama’s hand, but it turned out to be a death certificate for Trump’s campaign.

Of course, he couldn’t restrain his lying. He told Rolling Stone that he was "number one in the polls".

In his announcement today, he said that he was “top of the Republican contenders in polls across the country.” He went on to state he would have won, “I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election.”

If you believe that his fake campaign was intended to boost ratings for ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ .... It turns out that the audience for that show skews to the Democrats. According to research obtained by The Atlantic, the audience for "Celebrity Apprentice" is among the most liberal in primetime television. One wonders how the allegations of racism in his fake campaign were received by this audience. So, his campaign damaged his brand and he quit.

This is bad, bad. I was looking forward to the debates and the ads, the ads. You may have no idea just how easy it would have been to run attack ads against Trump. Why vote for a guy who throws little old ladies out of their homes and is being sued for misleading investors?  That’s even before we talk of his companies’ bankruptcies.

We needed candidates who could say things like, “In the old days, when you have a war and you win, that nation’s yours. ” Yup, we should have just grabbed Iraq’s oil for ourselves, Don-Don.

It is all over. The Palin-Trump ticket just couldn't get off the ground - like Trump Airlines.

Nevertheless, this site will not waver in its determination to examine the phenomenon that is Donald Trump. Our favourite cartoon candidate of yesterday is still our favourite businessman buffoon of today.

Lawsuits Mean Trump Slump, Not Headed To Stump?

The Donald has had a slump in the polls to a mere 8% following the success of the Bin Laden mission. A majority of Republicans polled have an unfavourable opinion of him. Admittedly, Obama's chances of a Republican candidate that is as easy to beat as Trump were never that strong, but one can live in hope - hope that now seems to be receding.

With hindsight, it seems that raising the birther issue has on balance damaged Trump even among those Americans who are drawn to the idea of a maverick businessman who can save the country (as they see it). Obama' release of the long-form birth certificate deflated the Trump campaign a little too efficiently. Barry may have to run against the Rombot, which would make for a boring campaign, except for the healthcare debate.

Now the knives are out for The Donald, whose brand may never recover from the press revelations. Yesterday, the New York Times ran a lengthy piece on The Donald having licensed his name to real estate developments in which he did not invest or have any management role at all. Many buyers bought on the strength of the Trump name and subsequently lost their deposits when these developments were never completed. Some 300 such buyers are currently suing Trump. The licensing arrangement between the real estate developers and Trump stipulated that the existence of the license agreement itself was not to be disclosed.

The article also refers to Trump University launched by Trump in 2005 to train students in real estate and general business, charging as much as $35,000 for a program. State regulators forced him to change the misleading name to Trump Entrepreneur Initiative, which is being sued by former students, who cite misleading marketing materials. One student described the tuition as  “almost completely worthless.” Trump also licensed his name to something similar called the Trump Institute, which was closed down in 2009. After the Texas attorney general began investigating Trump University, the company closed down in Texas.

Well, The Donald can console himself that he has the "number-one selling tie in the country" or at least that's what he told Rolling Stone in an interview published today.

Would you believe that The Donald has been imortalized in poetry? Me neither, but Timothy Hutchens at http://onthenewsstanza.blogspot.com/2011/04/some-card-that-trump.html has verse for your attention.

Donald Trump Roasted, Upstaged and Then Fired By Indy 500

The last two weeks have been eventful for The Donald. There was the Trump Triumph of prodding Obama into producing his long-form birth certificate. Sure, Obama was tactically brilliant. The percentage of Americans believing the birther conspiracy fell to 10%. But Obama's action also could be viewed as elevating Trump to national standing as a potential candidate, which may have been Obama's intention.

The next day he swore repeatedly in a speech in Las Vegas, embarrassing Republicans including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina who called it “unpresidential”. The theme of the speech was his criticism of Obama’s policies, mostly in foreign affairs. The level of his critical thinking is best demonstrated by his comment, “Our leaders are stupid.”

That same week, last Saturday, our favourite cartoon candidate was roasted by comedian Seth Meyers and, of course, President Obama at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Meyers’ routine seems to have been an ordeal for him as Trump did not smile once during Meyers’ onslaught. Trump later lambasted Meyers as having “no talent” and being a “stutterer”.

The following night we discovered that Obama had ordered the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, which gave an extra dimension to the words he used to mock Trump’s firing decisions in ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’, "These are the types of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir."

Obama also said:

“Donald Trump ... he’s taken some flak lately, but no one is prouder to put this birth certificate to rest than The Donald. Now he can get to focusing on the issues that matter. Like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened at Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”

The audience laughed and applauded while The Donald fumed.

The next day, Obama’s speech announcing the killing of Bin Laden pre-empted ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ and drew the biggest TV audience for any Obama speech.  Many have remarked on the irony.

Trump was recently selected to be the driver of the pace car for the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500. Now, he has cancelled citing “time and business constraints”. Not everyone is convinced. Some believe that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway withdrew the invite as Trump is seen as a divisive character due to his birther speeches.

The Wig Trumpet has said he would announce whether or not he would run for the presidential nomination after the current season of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ ends on May 22. Most likely, we will have to wait until June to find out if Don-Don will take on the fight.